Zoothera aurea
Silhouette: Francesco "Architetto" Rollandin · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
White's thrush (Zoothera aurea) is a member of the thrush family, Turdidae. It was named after the English naturalist Gilbert White. The genus name Zoothera comes from the Ancient Greek zoon, "animal" and theras, "hunter". The specific aurea is from Latin aureus, "golden".
It breeds in wet coniferous taiga, mainly in the eastern Palearctic in Siberia to Manchuria, Korea and Japan. Northern races are strongly migratory, with most birds moving to southeastern Asia during the winter. It is a very rare vagrant to western Europe.
The sexes are similar, 27–31 cm long, with black scaling on a paler white or yellowish background. The most striking identification feature in flight is the black band on the white underwings, a feature shared with Siberian thrush. The male has a song which is a loud, far-carrying mechanical whistle, with 5–10 second pauses between each one second long phrase twee...tuuu....tuuu....tuuu.
It was previously considered a subspecies of the scaly thrush. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cuc Phuong National Park | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 2 | Taroko National Park | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | |
| 3 | Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park | 🇲🇳 Mongolia | |
| 4 | Nikko National Park | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 5 | Kaeng Krachan National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 6 | Khao Yai National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Novosibirsk | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 2 | Qingdao | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 3 | Xiamen City | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 4 | Shanghai | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 5 | Nanjing | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 6 | Hong Kong | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 7 | Tuen Mun | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 8 | Suzhou | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 9 | Busan | 🇰🇷 South Korea | |
| 10 | Hangzhou | 🇨🇳 China |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Khao Kheow Open Zoo | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 2 | Inokashira Park Zoo | 🇯🇵 Japan |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a White's Thrush sighting in Cuc Phuong National Park on a given day, based on 36 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 66th most-seen of the 159 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December and January
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a White's Thrush in Cuc Phuong National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April and October, the lowest months. Those are among Cuc Phuong National Park's driest months, with about 60 mm of rain a month against 390 mm in August. July has too few records to rate.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most White's Thrush sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 6 parks where we can rate White's Thrush sightings, Cuc Phuong National Park has the highest daily chance: about 10%. Next come Taroko National Park (Taiwan, about 10%) and Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park (Mongolia, under 5%).
Same family: Turdidae
The closest relatives of the White's Thrush that you can see in Cuc Phuong National Park (family Turdidae, Thrushes) are Japanese Thrush (about 50%), Black-breasted Thrush (about 40%) and Orange-headed Thrush (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the White's Thrush is recorded against all the birds logged in Cuc Phuong National Park (36 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
